Song Review: Winner – Everyday

Since their debut in 2014, Winner have attempted more iterations than almost any other YG group. They first made their name as a mature, ballad-heavy pop act before shifting to a rock-influenced sound that somehow veered tropical as last year’s trends took hold. Through it all, they’ve maintained a certain level of melodic heft that’s kept them in good stead. But with Everyday, they’ve made their first major misstep.

To be honest, I stopped listening to mainstream U.S. music several years ago. It seemed to lose its sense of song craft, replaced by throwaway, meme-worthy hooks and unimaginative production. Everyday is emblematic of this trend. Shellacked with autotune, this useless exercise in “swag” better not be an indication of where k-pop is heading. There used to be a time when YG’s endless waits between comebacks were worth it because they’d result in something as timeless and carefully crafted as Crooked or I Love You. I refuse to believe that the derivative hip-hop posing of Everyday is the best that this once-dominant agency can do — especially for one of its hottest acts.

Everyday is described as “cheerful trap” and “public-friendly.” But frankly, I don’t think the producers are giving the public enough credit. The song’s chorus is a dumbed down, repetitive mess of effects that comes across as desperate to prove its coolness. This might have been forgiven as a one-off b-side, but not as a title track. More and more, I’m learning to dread the word “trap,” as this sub-genre has quickly devolved into a lethargic slur of recycled beats and inauthentic asides. There’s exactly one redeeming segment in Everyday, and that’s the melodic pre-chorus when the affectations (mostly) drop and Seungyoon and Jinwoo are allowed to actually sing in their natural voices. Other than that, this is simply not a good direction for Winner or the industry as a whole — and it shouldn’t be encouraged.

Post navigation

18 thoughts on “Song Review: Winner – Everyday”

Do you think this song will be a grower to you? I didn’t like the teaser so much, but the catchiness eventually got to me. Doesn’t help that the public is eating this song up so we’ll probably see more songs like this in the future.

Unlikely. I mean, almost every k-pop song ends up growing to some extent just based on sheer repetition, but this has such a deficit to overcome.

Even more than the underwhelming song composition itself, I just can’t push past the stylistic choices. They’re representative of modern pop music’s worst instincts and honestly frustrate me to no end.

Thanks for your feedback.The usage of autotune is just a choice of recording production, which does not determine the quality of the song. You will realise that if you watch their live performance. Ever since they used autotune, which Kpop boy band did not use autotune overly that year of 2018? Even BTS? Winner obviously led the trend within Kpop. WINNER’s Everyday is absolutely different from American hill trap or Tune hip hop. They owned it in their own way.

Guys, I just found the cutest and best K-Pop merchandise shop. :ooo These items are so awesome! It is called Lianox.com and they have Kpop stuff from Exo, BTS, Monsta X, Blackpink, Twice, Got7, Girls Generation, NCT and even Astro. They said they are going to add more groups like Shinee, Superjunior and Vixx soon. You can always give them feedback on their live chat and they will actually do it! I requested more Got7 stuff and on the next day, there were 3 new longsleeve shirts and backpacks! It’s a very good and trustable store, they are super nice and friendly and have good quality apparel and other clothes like hoodies, sweatshirts and T-shirts, but also face masks and jewellery (like for example BTS earrings or Exo necklace…). I got a lot of coupon codes and discounts from them too, they also do giveaways! Just wanted to share because I like it so much

I got ‘scolded’ for writing how I dislike this song on YT and as well as for saying it is a ‘lazy’ composition. It’s not just autotune, it really is as u mentioned unimaginative and repetitive (may I add super boring and bland) rhythm. Gawd, I dislike this even more than DNA 😥😥😥

Thanks for your feedback.The usage of autotune is just a choice of recording production, which does not determine the quality of the song. You will realise that if you watch their live performance. Ever since they used autotune, which Kpop boy band did not use autotune overly that year of 2018? Winner obviously led the trend within Kpop.